Is the media coverage of gay marriage fair?

I went on CNN this morning (since it’s not my Easter until next month) to discuss how well the media has been covering the gay marriage debate, especially this past week with DOMA and Prop 8 being before the Supreme court.

On Star Trek Nichols gained popular recognition by being one of the first black women featured in a major television series not portraying a servant; her prominent supporting role as a bridge officer was unprecedented. During the first year of the series, Nichols was tempted to leave the show, as she wanted to pursue a Broadway career; however, a conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., changed her mind. She has said that King personally encouraged her to stay on the show, telling her that he was a big fan of the series. He said she “could not give up” because she was playing a vital role model for black children and young women across the country, as well as for other children who would see African Americans appearing as equals. It is also often reported that Dr. King added that “Once that door is opened by someone, no one else can close it again.”

Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison has cited Nichols’s role of Lieutenant Uhura as her inspiration for wanting to become an astronaut and Whoopi Goldberg has also spoken of Nichols’s influence. Goldberg asked for a role on Star Trek: The Next Generation,[9] and the character of Guinan was specially created, while Jemison appeared in an episode of the series.
In her role as Lieutenant Uhura, Nichols famously kissed white actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the November 22, 1968, Star Trek episode “Plato’s Stepchildren”. The episode is popularly cited as the first example of an inter-racial kiss on United States television.

The Shatner-Nichols kiss was seen as groundbreaking, even though the kiss was portrayed as having been forced by alien telekinesis.

John AravosisFollow me on Twitter: @aravosis | @americablog | @americabloggay | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn. John Aravosis is the editor of AMERICAblog, which he founded in 2004. He has a joint law degree (JD) and masters in Foreign Service from Georgetown (1989); and worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. Frequent TV pundit: O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline & Reliable Sources. Bio, article archive.

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Howdy Christophobes! Another troll here. Oh, and I’m new here, but why would anybody quote a Nazi for positive reinforcement of an ideal.(I’m whispering so only y’all can hear me. If I was y’all I especially wouldn’t do that because it’s rumored a lot of them were homosexuals) Number one, I’m fairly certain y’all have the obsession with the anal area and fecal matter bassackwards. (What’s that bigoted term for “Santorum?”) Secondly, I’m jumpin’ in your conversation here, mostly because I like to hear myself talk.because as sure as the earth is “flat.” most of y’all won’t pay attention to a word I speak. But I’m gonna’ do it anyway because it is by your nature that you reason as you do, so I expect to be seen as foolish.(Duck, I’m about to swing my Bible!) Here’s why, 1st Corinthians, 2:14, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness…” Therefore I know that my convictions will not change your opinions, but (stop thinkin’ butt, come on.) one of my convictions is to speak what I know to be true. So here’s my foolishness; Understand this is what I believe, what you believe is your choice. Homosexuality is immoral and a sin, as is The Big 10, or anything that will separate the individual from God. Sure, I’ve done my share of sinning, but I don’t have a “want 2″ to remain in that sin. I won’t try to reason against homosexuality with arguments of legality because that’s not what my opposition is based on. Now, put on your reading glasses, that’s it, come closer so you don’t miss this, “I’m opposed to Homosexuality, not those that practice it. What? You couldn’t find your glasses in time? Ok I’ll say it one more time, “Opposed Homosexuality, not Homosexuals.” So I do have a different opinion than most of the intolerant, “be silent O fool, for I am far “wiser than thou,” Homosexual Media Cheerleaders, P.S. this ain’t even close to a Dr. Martin Luther King, civil rights issue, (study his speeches & writings, not fiction about him) although it might be similar to bein’ sold into slavery. Been good talkin’ to ya’

hollywoodstein

IIRC, didn’t Gene Roddenberry have an affair with Nichelle?

hollywoodstein

Maybe not more proud, that post includes a lot of stupid.

hollywoodstein

I am proud to be a free human being, dare I say, more proud than you are to be stupider than a clogged toilet.

http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot

True, but his stance is.

http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot

That’s much more elegant than my ‘turd believers.”

http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot

Yea John!

http://www.facebook.com/people/James-Stone/1630193503 James Stone

John..I think another vehicle that is pushing our desire for equality are websites like yours, joemygod, and huffingtonpostgayvoices. Before the net we were all “spoon fed” the news by a bunch of rich white men. There was no room for discussion about gay people or gay rights. Today WE can bring up a topic on a website..Youtube..and perhaps it will become viral on Facebook. THEN the mainstream media has no choice but to pick it up. This actually happened last week to friends of ours. Their son..Daniel Leffew..wrote a letter to Chief Justice Roberts about his family and gay people adopting children. I was so proud to see my friend being interviewed on CNN and MSNBC.

Fritz

I recently watched the first episodes of The Munsters on Netflix and realized that it was an analogy for racial integration. There’s a bigoted neighbor in hysterics about “that kind” moving in next door. There’s a niece who passes as not being a monster. It was far from subtle.

Well the Mormons advocated multiple wives and probably still do. As far your other points-incest and pedophilia-your are just avoiding the reality that gay couples want the same legal rights as a male/female couple. As far as being honest with themselves let us start with you. How does giving the same rights to a gay couple impact your life. It is obvious you have never met a gay person and never interact with them so the impact would be nil. If however you believe the Rick Sanitariom meme that this will lead to dogs and cats living together, rain falling up and the end of the world keep it to yourself.

http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

Welcome to down-votes. You will receive a great many of them here, Mr. Troll.

http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

True enough. This was David Gerrold’s original version of ‘Blood and Fire’, which was turned down as a TNG script.

John, for that last sentence, I totally love you. (Don’t tell my wife.)

http://www.rebeccamorn.com/mind BeccaM

Indeed. Let’s not forget the Tholian Web, when it was damned sure that Uhura was accused of desperately wanting to see her Captain, as he phased in and out of interphased space.

Ain’t nobody missed that particular subtext, in that it was Uhura and not Janice Rand who saw him in her mirror.

Ninong

You see, John, in Republican circles, gay is a choice. They sometimes still refer to it as “an alternative lifestyle.” So to them, “in the closet” is a choice, too. That means the person “in the closet” (e.g. Ken Mehlman when he was RNC chairman) is not yet gay because he has not yet “chosen” to be gay. By that reckoning, Larry Craig is still not-gay.

Clecinosu

I was wondering why it took so long.

“Too afraid to follow me on Twitter?” What a dick.

Clecinosu

Dave Agema, is that you?

Sweetie

If the media is refusing to use heterosexism as a term (or something similar to it like heterosexual supremacy), then of course it’s not going to be fair.

Since the AP won’t use homophobia, which is the closest approximation, that leaves what, exactly, to describe anti-gay animus? Are they going to say “anti-gay animus”?

Those aren’t questions or comments. They are troll grenades. However, when they go off, the sound is like what comes from a Whoopee cushion. Everyone looks around and says: whoopee.

Sweetie

You can if Rick Berman is in charge. Guess why there has never been a gay character and we had to settle for Riker being pushed into a hard-to-believe relationship with a mousy woman.

tamarz

IIRC, there were hints of romance between Uhuru & Kirk during the series. And when they are forced to kiss, the subtext was (again, if my memory is correct) that Uhuru really was very taken with Kirk; being forced to kiss him for others’ entertainment when she was a little in love with him already was particularly humiliating.

http://AMERICAblog.com/ John Aravosis

Sorry, everyone, he put his twitter handle in every comment, he was spamming – and I wasn’t in the mood to go through trouble of editing multiple comments, so I just deleted the rest – assumed you wouldnt mind :)

http://AMERICAblog.com/ John Aravosis

If heterosexual marriage is for procreation, because procreation is the most important goal ever, then why not make incest, pedophilia, and polygamy okay? After all, the best way to ensure the propagation of the species is to let everyone have sex with everyone else as much as possible. And good try to push your twitter handle – I deleted it, right before I banned you.

timncguy

No one is responding to your last point because no one can figure out what the hell you’re talking about. What members of the medical community are suggesting that people should sleep with used toilet paper? And, what does that mean, anyway? Is this your way to try to make some obtuse reference to anal sex? You are fully aware the heterosexual couples also engage in anal sex too, right?

Max_1

Who’s equating humans to pigs but YOU!
Who does that? BIGOTS do!

Who protests about not being able to use hate speech towards others but YOU!
Who does that? BIGOTS do!

Who holds up their Holy Bible as the symbo for a Secular Governmentl to follow but YOU!

Who does that? BIGOTS do!

Max_1

But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country. ~ Hermann Göring

FLL

I’ve got it, I’ve got it! Our Xtian contributor on this thread, AhContraire, has surely inspired me to come up with a term to describe bible-believing Xtians who are oddly obsessed with human waste matter: Coprophilic Christians. It has a ring to it, doesn’t it? And it does fill a need in the English language since it describes the argument, or lack thereof, of so many Xtian critics of the recent progress in civil rights.

http://www.facebook.com/monoceros.forth Monoceros Forth

Repetitive little shit, aren’t you? Does anyone actually take these bullshit slippery-slope arguments seriously? I mean, if one sort of marriage could OMG WTF pull us down the slippery slope to bestiality or whatnot, certainly any other sort of marriage could do the same? Imagine it. Human males being allowed to breed with and even marry females of the human species, it’s disgusting. Soon human males will think it’s OK to breed with females of other species.

You know what, “AhContraire”, in retrospect I think you’re right. This marriage business is too dangerous. Let’s ban it altogether, it’s the only way to be safe. Because any sort of marriage might lead to some other sort of marriage you don’t like. And we wouldn’t want anything to happen that you don’t like, eh?

Phil

So does the nursing staff at the mental hospital you’re committed to know you’ve got access to a computer? I’m sure it’s a violation of policy. I heard they do lobotomies on Tuesdays, AhContraire, wear the bandage on your forehead well…..

Badgerite

Congratulations on being able to mention Star Trek on national TV. Live long and prosper!

Badgerite

There are valid policy reasons for banning all of the above. Incest involves close familial relationships where the consensual nature of the relationship is highly suspect to say the least. In other words, it is one family member preying on another. Not consensual. In terms of law, this would be an impossible burden to overcome. It does not follow that if same-sex marriage is legal the law must also recognize whatever makes anyone happy. That is not really the legal argument. You can show harm in cases of incest and certainly in cases of pedophilia, and probably in cases of polygamy. I don’t know if you noticed but the lawyers arguing to uphold DOMA and Prop 8 could not really point to any real harm caused to society or to individuals by the legal recognition of these traditional two person marriages. That is the issue and that is the distinction between them. This is not about ‘whatever makes you happy’, this is about ‘where’s the harm to the people or to the community. If the state cannot point out the harm, the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution forbids this kind of discrimination. The law is all about making distinctions like these. That is it’s job. And where the law reaches a result where it declares that for the good of society Charles Manson can marry ( as long as it is a woman) but George Takei cannot marry because he would marry a man, the law is not doing it’s job because it reaches what is an absurd result that defies rationality.

As to your other question, gay pride is needed because otherwise people would be unaware that the choice being made by current law is that Jon Huntsman’s decent, fine and upstanding son is not allowed to marry and Charles Manson ( incarcerated sociopath killer) is. This goes to the rationality of the results of current law on society.

As to ‘washing your hands’, well, you might want to wash you brain. Way too afraid to follow you on twitter. Thanks.

Drew2u

his masturbation is considered polishing a turd. Love the plug he gives himself at the end.

http://twitter.com/AhContraire AhContraire

Ooooh, name calling. You must have learned that in DEBATE 101.

ONE LAST POINT/QUESTION.
Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?

Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.

“Normally I am not this harsh” That’s OK Brian, I’m more than happy to take up any slack.

http://adgitadiaries.com/ karmanot

“it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?”” Ah, that explains why you are so full of shit—-troll.

http://twitter.com/AhContraire AhContraire

Are you saying these specific lions are like PIGS?
And that it’s OK for HUMANS to act like PIGS (or ANIMALS)?
And are you saying its OK to walk, bath and massage oneself in FECES?
Don’t scientists and those in the health community think that all these strange
and bizarre diseases like AIDS, Mad Cow Disease, Avian Bird Flu start from
unclean conditions where “unclean” means FECES?

Is the above what you call a better idea?

If you think your idea is so good, why not argue against the below question/point?

ONE LAST POINT/QUESTION.
Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?

Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.

Still, you have no argument. Should you not wash your hands after taking out a tampon? Just a question…. that I hope you also see has no relevance to marriage. There are so many other names that I would like to call you but you are just too ignorant. I just hope that you do a little research. Maybe find out what the anti-gay lawyers are actually arguing. Maybe look up Lawrence v. Texas to get your gutter mind satisfied, then come back to the debate at hand.

http://twitter.com/AhContraire AhContraire

Wow, name calling. At least you admit you are harsh.

The reason you don’t think the LAST POINT/COMMENT is a “real argument” is because it takes at least 2 different view points to argue.

And considering, that NOT A SINGLE PERSON has even attempted to argue against the LAST POINT/COMMENT, I guess you are correct, there is no more “real argument” because the LAST POINT/COMMENT has SETTLED THE ARGUMENT. Accordingly, there is no more argument anymore.

NOTE: FOR EVERYONE’S REFERENCE to the SETTLED ARGUMENT:

ONE LAST POINT/QUESTION.
Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?

Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.

I have a better idea. Go on a safari in Kruger National Park in South Africa. Learn about the lion species and have a fun vacation at the same time. (The link is here.)

Apparently, male lions don’t think much of your biblical values, which you can clearly see by their behavior toward each other. Why, oh why do male lions always score more than you guys do? You look up at the electronic scoreboard and all you ever see is:

Lions 10
Christians 0

You could always go out to Kruger National Park and make those lions see the error of their non-biblical ways. Just a vacation suggestion before your co-workers lobby to get rid of you. Now what would you do without me to give you career advice?

http://twitter.com/AhContraire AhContraire

IF YOU HAVE SO MUCH PRIDE NOW,

why not answer the LAST POINT/QUESTION?

ONE LAST POINT/QUESTION.
Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?

Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.

During the first few centuries of the Common Era, the well documented complaint about Christians was that they were “haters of mankind.” After reading your comment, AhContraire, I can see why. Before your loathsome fellow “Christian conservatives” took over the Roman Empire in the latter fourth century CE, there was no need of pride parades because Christians weren’t in power. I tell you! Put Christian nutjobs like you in charge, and the centuries-old Roman Empire goes to the dogs within 50 years.

After enough of your co-workers start telling you to back off, pride parades may become obsolete and give way to a simple commemoration of Harvey Milk, although I don’t expect you to understand what that means. Suffice to say that no one will be kissing your ass anymore.

Brian_Joness

Get some therapy. You are either certifiably crazy or dumb. Normally I am not this harsh, but if you have a real argument, then I will respond.

Indigo

The thing that leaves me uncomfortable about discussions on equality in marriage is the number of trolls the question attracts. That was also true of integration in the 1950s when I was in high school so I guess the presence of trolls is a signal that the issue is gaining solid traction. Ants at the picnic, so to speak.

http://twitter.com/AhContraire AhContraire

A FEW QUESTIONS/COMMENTS on GAY MARRIAGE:

If gay marriage is ok, why not make polygamy, incest, or pedophilia, OK?

And all of aforementioned in the name of ‘LOVE’ will justify them all? Do the “ends” justify the “means” at any cost? Are gays really being honest with themselves and others in “coming out of the closet”? Why the need for gay “pride” in the first place decades ago?

Perhaps someone can explain why they want to shame others for their hate or homophobia when they themselves needed to advertise and promote their own “pride” well before anyone knew about gay pride?

ONE LAST POINT/QUESTION.
Doesn’t the medical community recommend that you, “Wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.”?

Yet, now there are some in the medical community that now say it’s OK to “Sleep with the waste that gets flushed down in the toilet?” and that it’s possible to live a perfectly normal life.

The strategy that the political Right had always used with such effectiveness was to move the political Right farther to the right, thus forcing the middle to shift farther to the right. In recent years, the pro-marriage-equality side has successfully used the same strategy to move the political Left farther to the left by insisting on marriage equality rather than civil unions, which forced the middle to shift farther to the left. A useful strategy.